Closet Full of Cardboard is a place for baseball addicts to feed their obsession with cards.

Monday, August 10, 2009

What to Collect?

Sometimes when I sit down and try to re arrange my collection for the millionth time I think about collections that I would like to have. Some that come to mind are all the 1952 Topps Yankee cards, maybe every Willie Mays card ever made, and I think I would even like to have all the 1985 Cubs cards. Don't get me wrong, I like to put together your standard set from time to time, in fact I am working on a 1969 Topps, a 2001 Topps Archives, and a 2001 Fleer Platinum master set as I type this. However I often think of "historical" collections that I could put together, with my budget in mind. I call them "historical" because they deal with games or people from the past. Some of them require research, others come right from my memory. There are three great things about a "historical" collection.

1. Sometimes they require me to do research. If I want a card of every switch hitting catcher from the 1970's. I need to find out who all of those guys are. The internet is a great place to start, but you could also make a trip to the library, or start looking at the back of all those 70's cards.

2. It is a great activity to do with your son or daughter. You are teaching them about the game you love, reading and researching, setting a common goal, and then looking for the cards. I cannot think of a better way to share the hobby I love with a child or even friend.

3. The third and last reason these "historical" collections are great is you can do them on a budget. Lets say I am looking for a great Reggie Jackson card, to complete my collection of 1980s All Stars. Instead of laying down a stack of cash for that 1969 Reggie Jackson Rookie card to complete your 1969 set, just buy a 1980 Jackson for a couple of bucks and move on to the next card.

I think that one I am going to start on is a card from every starting American League All-Star outfielder of 1990's. This should be a very easy collection for me to put together because of all the cards I purchased in the decade of the 90's. Here is a break down of the players who started in the outfield for the American League.

1990Jose CansecoKen Griffey Jr.Rickey Henderson

1991Dave HendersonKen Griffey Jr.Rickey Henderson

1992Joe CarterKen Griffey JrKirby Puckett

1993Joe CarterKen Griffey Jr.Kirby Puckett

1994Joe CarterKen Griffey Jr.Kirby Puckett

1995Albert BelleKenny LoftonKirby Puckett

1996Abert BelleKenny LoftonBrady Anderson

1997Brady AndersonKen Griffey Jr.Paul O'Neil

1998Kenny LoftonJuan GonzalezKen Griffey Jr.

1999Ken Griffey Jr.Kenny LoftonManny Ramirez

Now you could make this collection in a couple of different ways:

1. The Rookie card for each player.2. The actual All Star Card for each player.3. Any random card of each player4. A material card from each player5. A serial numbered card from each player6. Cards from each player from the year they started in the All Star game.

I think I am just going to go with the random card from each player. I will add pictures when I put this "historical" collection together.